Stars are Blind
by junior-wheel
Summary: [Suikoden V] Hungry and unable to sleep, Orok decides to sneak to the kitchen for a midnight snack. Viki sneezes into him on the way, and she involuntarily follows him for the food. Something definitely ensues: I'm just not sure what it is yet. VikixOrok


Hi! This is my first Suikoden fic! I hope it won't be my last. XD I was just playing Suikoden V the other day, and I wondered what would happen if two Stars who had nothing to do with each other would interact. Besides, Viki is such a cute character. I believe in the obviously non-existent GeorgxViki (though everyone knows that Georgxcheesecake is the OTP) the most, but I chanced upon Orok when I was running around HQ and realized that I'd like to see him with Viki.

If "K" isn't the right rating for this, please tell me! I'll change it if I need to. It's entitled "Stars are Blind" not because I like the song with the same title, but because it was playing on the radio when the idea came to me. Also, Viki and Orok are part of the 108 Stars of Destiny. There was this little pun I made in my head connected them to the 'blind' part, but I've forgotten it. Oh, well. I hope you enjoy reading this!

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Orok couldn't sleep.

It wasn't his position- he had tried many kinds before, and none worked.

It wasn't his clothes- he wore the same garments day in and day out only because war didn't give him enough time to buy new clothes (of course, he changed his underwear daily).

It wasn't the bed- surprisingly, these "ruins" that Prince Freyjadour found had better beds than most houses in Lelcar did.

It wasn't his roommates- he was used to Wasil's snorting and Volga's incessant sleep-talking every night.

Which brought him to the question: why did he have to sleep in the same room as these two? He saw nothing in him that was common to them, except maybe his love of Lelcar.

Suddenly, Orok knew what kept him tossing and turning.

The night before, Volga thought it would be funny if a laxative were placed in Orok's food. And what Volga thought, Volga did. Orok's stomach wouldn't stop bothering him until the wee hours of the morning, and the Prince himself had to take action when their neighbors from Lordlake, specifically Toma, started complaining about the smell (in other words, his flatulence).

From this, Volga had earned an hour's worth of lecturing from Wasil and, even worse, a minute of scolding from Zerase for forcing the Prince into using the Dawn Rune to "cure" something as light as an upset stomach.

So Orok was wary of Volga, who was currently out hunting for wild boar with Boz.

Wild boar. _That,_ Orok thought, _Would be great right now._

Orok was wary **and** hungry- not a very good combination for any governor or soldier.

The leader of Lelcar's western islet put his shoes on, stood from his bed, and poked his head out of their room cautiously. No Volga in sight- yet.

Closing the door behind him slowly so as not to wake Wasil, Orok stepped out of their room. After looking from his left and his right just to make sure, he stepped forward and took short but fast strides towards Retso's kitchen. Surely the cook and his daughter, Shun Min, were in their own quarters, and if he was lucky, Nikea didn't eat all the ingredients again.

It had taken him three days to memorize it, but Orok knew the castle layout by heart. Unfortunately...

"ACHOO!"

Viki didn't.

Appearing out of nowhere like she usually did, Viki crashed into Orok and his fast strides.

If he had not nearly fallen on his posterior, Orok would have jumped back in surprise. Once he regained his composure, he looked down to the perpetrator of his personal space, only to find her looking back at him.

Once the two made eye contact, Viki bowed her head and gripped her wand nervously. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you! I was just on my way to the kitchen to get a midnight snack because I was really hungry but I didn't know which way to go so I tried to teleport but I ended up here and... W-well, sorry..."

Orok's eyebrows furrowed when he looked at the girl before him- he had seen her before, and possibly the other way around, too. But where?

_"Hey Prin- er, Frey, is he the bad guy keeping all these guys here?"_

Oh, yes.

She was with the Prince and his bodyguard in Lelcar, along with Kyle, Toma, and the fisherman's daughter, Lu. He had caught but a glimpse of her that moment because he fled to speak with Zahhak after Nikea lost to the Prince. She was in the battle to defend his home, Lelcar, and she was there when fire was set upon it.

_Orok clenched his fists at the sight of Lelcar burning. Was_ this _part of the national interests of Falena?_

_He spent no time being angry with Zahhak; he would have all the time to do that later if he- if he and the rest of the citizens of Lelcar survived._

_"Everyone, towards the eastern islet!"_

_Orok turned to his right and saw the same brown-haired, scantily clad girl who helped Prince Freyjadour defeat his bodyguards earlier that day._

_"Everyone, please!" she yelled over his citizens' screaming, motioning for them to move past the bridge to the central islet. "There is no time to collect your belongings! What's important is that you keep your lives!"_

_By this time, Orok noticed someone trying to get out of his or her house. He rushed to open the door, going so far as to rip the door off its hinges, and saw that it was an old man._

_"Sir," said Orok, allowing the old man to hold onto him for support. "We have to go now!"_

_Orok felt a pair of eyes on him._

_He glanced up and saw her again- the girl with the wand. The other citizens had been evacuated, so what was she still doing here?_

_Staring at him with her mouth agape, she seemed to struggle to move to him. Her eyes constantly flickered from him to the old man he was helping, and Orok understood: she thought he was still the enemy._

_"Viki!" a loud, ear-piercing yell came from behind her. It was the girl whom Orok would learn to be the fisherman's daughter, Lu. "Viki, get over here!"_

_That's it!_ Orok laughed triumphantly- in his head. _Her name is Viki._

"It's all right," replied Orok, smiling politely at her and wondering if she still feared him.

"O-okay, bye," she mumbled, making it a point to step out of his way, and then hastily walked past him.

Orok blinked before turning around to call after her. "Wait."

Viki froze. Ten seconds passed before she turned her head to face him slowly, a weak smile disgracing her usually bright and bubbly features. "Y-yes?"

"I was on my way to the kitchen as well," said Orok. He motioned to the hallway behind him. "I know where almost everything is here. Would you like me to accompany you?"

Viki's eyes widened at his offer. She looked around, obviously trying to find a way out, but to no avail. She was just as hungry as Orok was, and she would do anything for a bite of even Shun Min's precious "baby fish" at the moment.

"Okay..." she neared Orok, but made sure to keep a safe distance of a meter away from him. "I- I guess you should lead the way."

Not wanting to scare her more than she already was, Orok simply nodded. He guided her through the twists, turns, and different doors of the castle until they finally arrived at the door to Retso's kitchen. Orok sighed in relief as he didn't hear sounds of Nikea overindulging herself or Cornelio teaching his bizarre DoReMi elves.

The two entered Retso's kitchen. Viki would have fainted at the sight of so many ingredients if not for her fear of Orok, which kept her standing still.

"Here we are," Orok told her, just to show her that he was not there to turn her into his own midnight snack. "Retso's kitchen."

"Th-thank you, um..." Viki bit her lip and bowed to him. "Thank you, Orok."

Orok's eyebrows raised. She knew his name?

"You're welcome."

At this, Viki didn't reply anymore. She pretended not to hear him, and in her anxiety, she started taking random ingredients from their places. Orok shook his head, deciding that he would just have to ask the Prince or Wasil about her the next morning. He prepared ingredients of his own: tonight he was going to eat fried fish.

"Ahh," Orok involuntarily sighed at the fresh aroma of his fish contentedly. He carefully took the fish from Retso's frying pan and placed it on a plate. After cleaning his 'workplace' up and grabbing a knife and a fork, Orok walked towards the door.

"Uh, um..." he clearly heard Viki taking deep breaths. "What was I going to make again? I was going to make, err..."

Orok stopped and placed his plate on the counter by the door. He turned around and snuck towards Viki, who was more concentrated on ignoring Orok than she was on checking if the man was still there-

"Eep!"

-which is why her Rune nearly left her when Orok held her shoulder.

"O-orok, it's you, I'm sorry for screaming," she apologized once she realized who it was.

"It's all right," Orok repeated. "I just noticed that you hadn't started cooking yet, and..."

Viki's lips twitched in uneasiness.

She was still scared of him.

"And..." Orok was tired of seeing apprehension in people's eyes when they looked at him- when she looked at him. "Viki, will you share this fish with me?"

"Uh..." Viki looked from the plate on the counter to the ingredients in front of her. She gave up without a fight this time. "If it's okay..."

"It would be my pleasure to share this fish with you," Orok promptly replied, smiling kindly at Viki.

Viki chortled softly at this friendly action before giving Orok the genuine smile he had subconsciously been waiting for since they met.

Viki now sat in one of the tables by Retso's kitchen, holding a fork and a knife in each hand. Orok grinned and placed his- no, their plate on the table, then proceeded to take a seat across Viki. He raised his utensils in the air as a playful gesture.

"Let us eat, lady Viki."

The teleportress giggled as quietly as she could to herself as Orok took a bite of the fish. "I hope that doesn't have any laxatives like last night," she blurted out.

Orok swallowed his food and and stared at Viki with a blank look on his face.

She gasped. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be so rude, I couldn't help it, I just heard from Jeane this morning, I didn't tell anyone about it or anything, I-"

Orok snorted.

Then he snickered.

Finally, he burst into laughter.

Viki stopped rambling and gave him a mildly injured look. "What's so funny?"

The Falenian tried to stop laughing, but all he could do was tone his snorting down to a minimum. "It's just that-" he said inbetween his laughter, "It's just that at first, I knew I had no right to question why you feared me. So I tried to make friends with you, but you're still scared of me!"

"What?" Viki quickly looked down. "I-I'm not scared of you."

In the blink of a Rune, Orok was beside Viki. He stared down at her and unbeknownst to himself, smirked. "Really? You're not?"

Orok noticed Viki's inability to catch her breath, and he was compelled to tease her. He leaned closer until their lips almost-

_SLAP!_

Orok held his cheek. "I deserved that."

"S-sorry," Viki reached out to touch his face. "I- I didn't mean to!"

Taking her hand off his cheek, Orok sighed. "Viki, you really need to stop saying sorry to me. I deserved that, and I deeply apologize for going so far..."

"It's okay," Viki tilted her head to the side, pretending to find something behind Orok interesting. At the moment, she could to look at anything but him. His disheveled hair... The unbuttoned shirt he wore which revealed his chest... He was definitely something to behold. Viki shook the thoughts out of her mind- or at least, tried to. "Maybe it's the hunger."

Orok laughed again. "You might have a point there. Let's eat for real now, shall we?"

"Okay," she nodded, taking her utensils from their plate and nibbling on a piece of fish. "Wow, this is-" she swallowed without chewing. "This is really good... Orok."

"Thank you, milady," said governor replied, bowing in front of her before sitting down across her again. "It's not every day a bad guy can cook well."

"I'm sorry for saying that, I- I didn't understand what you were doing for your people."

Orok shrugged, "As I said earlier, you don't have to apologize. Answer one thing for me, though."

Viki sliced a few pieces of fish for herself before she obliged. "What's your question?"

"Do I really frighten you?"

"Uh-uhm," Viki courageously looked up to meet Orok's eyes. "Not anymore. First I thought that you were a horrible, horrible man who betrayed his home for power... No offense."

"None taken."

"But now," Viki took a deep breath. "Well, when you were nice to me, I thought otherwise. I still didn't want to be around you, though, because I thought that if I spent time with you you'd think I was an airhead... Like everyone else does."

"I don't think anyone thinks you're an airhead, Viki." Orok said, giving up his half of the fish to Viki, who seemed to be hungrier than he was- and that was a lot to say.

"Lorelai does. I don't understand why!" To Orok's surprise, Viki started stuffing her mouth with fish as she spoke. "I mean, I've really never met her before! She keeps saying that we saw each other in the Twilight Ruins, but I've really, _really_ never met her before! You've got to believe me!"

"I do, Viki, I do," chuckled Orok. He _really_ liked the way her name rolled off his tongue. "Just calm yourself and set the fork down."

"Oh!" Viki realized what she was doing and shakily placed her fork back on the table. "Oops." she smiled sheepishly.

"Well," Orok wiped his face. "It looks like we've finished all our food, doesn't it?"

Viki gaped at Orok, who was now covered in fish meat. "I. Am so. Sorry." She stood from her seat and leaned forward to pick the food off him.

Now, Viki felt a pair of eyes on her.

This time, she glanced up and saw Orok smiling at her. "Hi," she squeaked. "All...clean?"

"That I am," chuckled Orok, hiding the disappointment in his voice. The girl could spoil moments as easily as she could create them, but that was all right. He could wait.

Orok stood up and offered his hand to Viki. "May I escort you back to your quarters?"

Viki almost snorted in happiness, but she was able to resist the urge. "You may!" she answered, taking his hand gaily. Unlike Orok, she was not used to keeping herself calm and collected.

"Just a moment." Orok let go of Viki's hand (much to her chagrin) and made two X's on their plate with his and Viki's utensils.

"What are you doing?" asked the teleportress beside him. "I hear Retso gets as crazy as Egbert when the plates are left unwashed."

"Exactly," Orok grinned mischievously, a look so childish that Viki never imagined he could have a look like that. "Volga always eats with extra utensils and always does this to his plate after eating; it's a little habit of his, and it will be his downfall. Call it what you will, but I say it's only fair." With that said, he took Viki's hand in his once more.

"If you say so, Orok..." Viki was too happy with holding his hand again to be annoyed or whatnot. _I'm not close to Volga, anyway,_ she justified to herself.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, milady. Shall we?" Orok turned back to his new companion, who pretended to curtsey in reply.

"Let's go!"

Orok frowned slightly- Viki was beautiful, but he did not appreciate the way other men could see her skin.

"Is something wrong?"

"No," he shook his head. "But... where is your room?"

Viki raised an eyebrow in amusement; he was just glad she wasn't so conscious with him anymore. "I thought you knew where everything was here?"

"Almost everything," Orok corrected her, placing a few stray hairs behind her ear. "Where is your room?"

"I sh-share one with Eresh and Jeane," answered Viki, barely recovering from Orok's touch. "It's beside Taylor's room."

"Ah, the journalist?"

"Yep, that's him," Viki confirmed. Orok wondered if Taylor ever looked at Viki's legs, then thought to ask Josephine, no matter how much it annoyed him to speak with such a bratty teenager, if she could recommend clothing for Viki which did not show off so much skin.

Listening to Viki as she told him about her experiences with Belcoot and Dinn, Orok led the teleportress back to her room. "..and then Dinn asked me if Belcoot was doing the right thing, being Marina's bodyguard rather than serving the army of his hometown. And I told him that if he was that envious of Belcoot, he should just go and ask for Salisha's hand in marriage- and then he turned really red! He said something about a proposal gift before running off on me. I'd never seen him so flushed before!"

Orok smiled. He revelled in Viki's contagiously energetic personality; it was very unlike his. In fact, he'd never been "playful" before tonight.

"Here we are."

"Huh? Oh! Right, my room..." Viki was brought back to her reality, and was embarrassed by how boisterously she acted in front of Orok, a more than intimidating man she only became "friends" with recently. At least, she hoped he considered her a friend.

"Thank you for keeping me company tonight, Orok, and for walking me here..." Viki smiled shyly, unable to look at Orok again. Completely forgetting about her hand, she kept her head down and placed her free one on the doorknob.

"Viki."

Said twenty year-old whirled around. "Wh-what is it?"

Orok cleared his throat before smiling. "Good night."

"O-oh," Viki nodded. "Good night..."

"And Viki?"

She looked up to face him one last time that night. "Hmm?"

"Sweet dreams."

Seizing her arm and pulling her close to him, Orok took her soft, warm lips for his own.

"Uh-uhm... Erm.." Viki blushed and stuttered as he released her before shaking her head and turning around to face her door again. _Come on, Viki!_

Using the last ounce of courage she had, Viki spun around and came face-to-face with... Orok... The color was drained from her face. Could he read her mind?

"Yes, Viki?"

"Orok! Uh, you know, I..." He noticed Viki's hitched breathing again, and it pleased him greatly, the thought of him exciting her. "Orok... What I want to say is-"

He lifted her chin with his free hand and kissed her again; this time, she parted her lips and allowed his tongue passage.

Maybe Volga's tomfoolery did have a positive effect once in a while.

As he held her, Orok wondered when he became so impulsive. Perhaps Volga's character was finally taking a toll on him. He also wondered why she still had no suitors. She was a sight for sore eyes; but he knew he was not the most eligible man in the castle, and especially that he was not the True Runes' gift to women- Kyle was the one who thought such things.

Orok had allowed his new object of affection to breathe when she bolted out of his arms and ran into her room. She slammed the door behind her.

Orok sighed regretfully. Maybe he moved a little too fast.

The door swiftly opened and Orok saw Viki's head sticking out of her room. She smiled at him, and he noticed that when she blushed, it was the bridge of her nose that went red. "Sweet dreams, Orok..."

"Sweet dreams, Viki." he nodded, and Viki shut the door to her room.

Orok found himself smiling from ear-to-ear as he walked back to his quarters. He licked his lips, remembering Viki and the way his tongue delighted in hers.

With the teleportress still monopolizing his thoughts, the leader of Lelcar's western islet lay down on his bed. He couldn't wait for tomorrow- the day when he could see Viki again.

_"Sweet dreams, Orok..."_

Orok closed his eyes, hurrying to get to the sleep he was so deprived of.

Sweet dreams indeed.

---

This was meant as a oneshot, but I liked it so much I thought of making a sort of sequel to it: in which Orok finds out why Viki doesn't have a lover yet. Should I? Should I not? PM me or leave a review to answer that question, please!

Reviews are awesome for me, good or bad, as long as they include constructive criticism. If you leave one, thank you in advance!


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